Bethel is a relatively small and quiet village set centrally within the wider community and larger Parish of

Bodorgan Bodorgan is a village and community (Wales), community on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census, there were 1,503 residents in the now former Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ...

. The village is located inland (approximately three miles) from the south-western coast on the isle of

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

Community

The village consists mainly of a cluster of detached private dwellings and a few

social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

properties that have become mostly former tenant owned since the social and political revolution of the 1980s. These in turn circumvent the village shop, Bethel Stores/Post Office and the new Medical Surgery. During the late 19th century and up until the 1950s the village and the nearby Bodorgan railway station were a hive of commercial and social activity. The present village shop, Bethel Stores, was constructed by Harold and Dorothy Mawson in the 1960s as a result of a major

demolition Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...

programme affecting many older properties deemed to be in a dangerous state of construction and repair - including their own general stores business, “Siop Isaf” ( Lower Shop”), in the village. The new Bethel Stores (the former Bethel Filling Station and Motorique Autoparts) stands on ground that was used as in-fill to reclaim an area that was known locally as Chwarel Bethel (Bethel Quarry), a source of some relatively unique, fairly valuable and sought after mineral deposits by the Bone-China /Ceramic industry of the Potteries. Some local inhabitants once indicated that they had the "superior bone-china tea sets" made from the quarried stone (a type of

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

) after it had returned to the area in its new, manufactured state. Beside the quarrying industry however, Bethel could arguably boast that it had a vibrant commercial centre to some extent that existed until relatively recent times.

Facilities

The area once supported two general goods/

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

s. Besides Shop Isaf a second business also operated in the village, known as Bryn Meilir (Meilir's Hill Stores). Both shops were supported by the villagers and the wider farming community. However, in a blatantly obvious show of

partisanship A partisan is a committed member of a political party or army. In multi-party systems, the term is used for persons who strongly support their party's policies and are reluctant to compromise with political opponents. A political partisan is no ...

, one was supported by the Chapel-going community whilst the other was held in place by the Church-fraternity. One of Bryn Meilir's occupants had close family ties with a high-ranking member of the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishop ...

. According to wide-held belief, it was suggested that many locals chose to alternate their allegiance to the great Lord (and therefore obtain favour in either "camp" during periods of

food rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

) by following either path on alternate Sundays or morning/afternoon services. The village once boasted a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

, a leather/shoe repairers,

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

merchants,

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...

, petrol

filling station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoli ...

(up to the early 21st century) a garage, motor-parts and accessory shop,

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, surgery, chapel, school and church-hall, china shop and

joiner A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc. Joiners may work in ...

y workshop/

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

s. In addition, there were two well frequented hostelries stood almost side by side opposite the railway concourse at Bodorgan Station. These two “pubs” - the Bodorgan and the Meyrick Arms were divided only by the positioning of the Cattle-Market and it was on such market days that farmers and the general public gathered to sell or purchase fine beasts or agricultural products and equipment. The railway played its part too by transporting the bartered for beasts as well as passengers to and from the area.

References

{{authority control Villages in Anglesey Bodorgan